Mastering machine pieced Y-seams Tutorial

Some time ago I started this post and never finished it. I've decided it's time to get it out of the drafts folder and live to help people who struggle with Y-seams. These tips can be used with any pattern that requires Y-seams, whether it's a machine pieced hexie quilt or a pattern with odd shaped units or setting triangles that require a Y-seam. Even though One Block Wonder quilts, made with pieced hexies, are designed to be sewn in rows of halves to avoid Y-seams, some quilters have mistakenly sewn their hexies together and, rather than unsew the halves, they proceed to sew them together with Y-seams. An entire quilt with Y-seams can be a daunting task, but it is fully doable!

I had just completed a project that took me a couple of months of looking at it and then 3 weeks of working many hours to complete. This vintage quilt had a Y-seam in every single block! It was a machine pieced hexie quilt was laid out in a variation of the Grandmother's Flower Garden pattern with large hexie flowers set with buds and leaves in setting diamonds between the larger flowers. I knew I would figure it out and be able to complete it, but that's not to say it was especially easy. It was a huge puzzle, partially made years ago by the owner's grandmother, and worked on by several people along the way who had stitched the entire seams, leaving no space to ease the connecting seams, or had attempted to attach hexies on two sides and made little pocket bubbles. All of this I had to fix and I learn so much through the process of unsewing and resewing to create the proper Y-seams across the quilt.

Understanding Y-seams is an important concept if you wish to machine piece a hexie quilt like this Grandmother's Flower Garden. The most important thing to remember is to always start and stop your seams 1/4" in from the edge of the fabric, being sure to add 2-3 back stitches to anchor the seams. By leaving the 1/4" unsewn on each end of the seam, you leave a flex point where that seam can then open and bend as you pivot to make the next seam around the corner.

This example I stitched with contrasting thread to show the importance of leaving that 1/4" unsewn in order to make those corners.

Start with two hexies and stitch a seam beginning and ending 1/4" in from the edge of the blocks. I backstitched 2-3 stitches on either end to anchor the seam. I then pressed that seam open. With those two blocks facing up, take your next hexie and lay it pointing towards the seam that it will set into. Flip it over, right sides together, onto the right hexie. Beginning 1/4" in from the edge, stitch to the seam line of the pair and, with needle down, pivot and turn the pieces so the next seam can be sewn. When pivoting and turning, you may have to fold the previous hexie in half in order for the next seam allowances to line up properly.

Continue in this fashion, adding additional hexies, one at a time, stitching the two sides to the already attached two that the Y-seam sets into. Pivot to continue stitching the second seam.

I found that not every seam needed to be pressed open. Once I was stitching, I decided as I went along which seams laid nicely to one side or the other, and which ones needed to be pressed open.

In this last photo you can see how the flower is progressing, from front and back, by adding hexies and building around the center.  

 In the quilt top, as the flowers grew and were ready to be attached with the white dividing hexies, I stitched together the connecting pieces and then stitched and pivoted along the edges, pivoting at each Y-seam, until the section was attached.

Straight stitch to within 1/4", pivot, fold as necessary and stitch next seam, repeat. 

By building in this way, you can make sections that can be connected to make your larger design. While Y-seams are not my favorite, once proficient at stitching them, it makes patterns that require them much easier to tackle. 

I hope this tutorial on Y-seams has been helpful! 

More snippets from the sewing room soon...

Liz